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Considering relocating to the Raleigh area but am trying to figure out the schools in Wake County. First, I understand the intent and need for bussing and reassigning students. Second, it seems like you can then live anywhere in Raleigh and not worry so much about your child's education.
Questions:
1) If your child can not go to his/her local, neighborhood school, how far away can they assign the child? Are there "zones" within WCPSS so that if you live in Zone A and your child cannot go to their closest school, you are "guaranteed" a spot at a school within a 5 mile radius sort of thing - like, within your "zone"? Or theoretically, could your child end up assigned at a school across the county? [Berkeley, Ca does something similar with Zones]
2) If your child is assigned a school not within walking distance AND you can apply/receive bussing, can you opt OUT of the bussing? Could I simply drive my children to school instead? Or is that frowned upon? I personally had such horrific experiences on school buses I vowed to not subject my children to bussing and have focused on finding schools within walking distance of our homes.
3) Some schools are year round and others are not. I have three children and at some point will have a high school, middle school and elementary student (yes, I know, lucky me!). I might actually prefer a year round schedule HOWEVER I would NEED all three kids to be on the same school schedule, whether year round or traditional. Can I make sure that happens???
4) Is there sibling priority so that the few years my kids DO overlap, can they be at the same schools? Or could I get stuck with a middle school and two different elementary schools?
5) Because schools only seem to be partially neighborhood based, how difficult is it to build community at the schools? Do all the schools tend to have strong parent involvement, or only a handful? How active (in general) are the PTA's at each school?
The student assignment overview page will answer a good number of your questions, but a few quick thoughts:
- Each address has a base school assignment for elementary, middle, and high school. On top of that there are a number of other schools you can apply to either as a calendar option (you want traditional or year-round and your base is the opposite) or a magnet offering a specific emphasis. In some cases your base school may be capped, in which case your child will be assigned to an overflow school. It shouldn't be all the way across the county though.
- Many people do drive their kids, but that also means 30+ minute waits in carpool lines aren't uncommon.
- There are no year-round high schools, so you will have unsynchronized calendars if your younger ones are on year-round.
- Sibling matching is the highest priority in the process. If you're applying to a school with two siblings, they'll only grant it if they have space for both. If you're rising into a new grade span (K, 6, 9), you can have a slot if an older sibling is at the school, provided you register soon enough.
Location: Sodo Sopa at The Villas above Kenny' s House.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by empearls
Can you just drop your kid off a few blocks from school and skip the Carpool line?
Yes, I have done that going on 2 years. They keep making it more difficult by adding more no parking or stopping signs but it's still doable. Oddly enough the signs are only for the afternoon. I'd rather walk 5 minutes any day then wait in the "crawlpool".
Do you have to walk the children inside the school and sign them in? My first grader (with my 4th grader) walks to/from school in a a big city (Oakland, Ca) - and she did that as a Kindergartner as well. I usually only walk the kids and pick them up the first day of school...
Do you have to walk the children inside the school and sign them in? My first grader (with my 4th grader) walks to/from school in a a big city (Oakland, Ca) - and she did that as a Kindergartner as well. I usually only walk the kids and pick them up the first day of school...
You do not have to walk your kids in, in fact school personnel prefers you don't.
As far as choosing to opt out of busing - first of all there isn't really busing in the terms that it is traditionally meant. The only reason your child won't go to the school that is closest to you is if it is capped. In that case, if you aren't living in the base zone when the cap goes into effect, no you don't have the option to still send your child there - that's the point of the enrollment cap - it's for overcrowded schools.
You can always request a transfer if you don't like your assigned school - whether that request will be granted is up to the principal (for the most part).
Most of these "issues" occur in extreme high growth areas. Schools get capped, new schools get built, people CAN (not WILL) get shuffled around. It's good to be aware of these issued because I can assure you once you get here you will need to pack your patience and go with the flow as much as possible.
I'm thinking, after reading your post, that you have the skewed view of school buses that most Californians I know do - please realize that in the vast rest of the country kids take school buses every single day and it's an accepted mode of transport. It seems Californians have been told they are evil objects because there is never any money in the budget for busing. Here in Wake County as in most other places if you live a certain distance from the school you are ELIGIBLE for a bus. You don't HAVE to take it, although for the life of me the carpool thing makes no sense when you can just as easily get on a bus.
I can't think of any circumstance where siblings would be assigned to 2 different elementary schools unless the parent chooses it - I've known people who've sent one to a magnet and one to the base for instance.
IMHO PTAs here are not as strong as elsewhere. Where I moved here from people were getting in fistfights to get on the PTA. However, volunteers are welcomed with open arms - way more so than where we moved from.
Considering relocating to the Raleigh area but am trying to figure out the schools in Wake County. First, I understand the intent and need for bussing and reassigning students. Second, it seems like you can then live anywhere in Raleigh and not worry so much about your child's education.
Questions:
1) If your child can not go to his/her local, neighborhood school, how far away can they assign the child? Are there "zones" within WCPSS so that if you live in Zone A and your child cannot go to their closest school, you are "guaranteed" a spot at a school within a 5 mile radius sort of thing - like, within your "zone"? Or theoretically, could your child end up assigned at a school across the county? [Berkeley, Ca does something similar with Zones]
2) If your child is assigned a school not within walking distance AND you can apply/receive bussing, can you opt OUT of the bussing? Could I simply drive my children to school instead? Or is that frowned upon? I personally had such horrific experiences on school buses I vowed to not subject my children to bussing and have focused on finding schools within walking distance of our homes.
3) Some schools are year round and others are not. I have three children and at some point will have a high school, middle school and elementary student (yes, I know, lucky me!). I might actually prefer a year round schedule HOWEVER I would NEED all three kids to be on the same school schedule, whether year round or traditional. Can I make sure that happens???
4) Is there sibling priority so that the few years my kids DO overlap, can they be at the same schools? Or could I get stuck with a middle school and two different elementary schools?
5) Because schools only seem to be partially neighborhood based, how difficult is it to build community at the schools? Do all the schools tend to have strong parent involvement, or only a handful? How active (in general) are the PTA's at each school?
1. I don't think there is a strict distance limit or zones, but most kids are assigned to one of their closest schools. It's not necessarily THE closest school though. And you do have options as far as calendar option, magnets, etc. There used to be a lot more busing for diversity and I think there are still some nodes that are assigned fairly far away. But that is not the norm.
2. You can always carpool. And carpool doesn't have to be that bad. Morning carpool at my dd's school takes < 5 minutes. Afternoon carpool depends on what time you get there. If you want a front of the line spot, than 30-45 minutes is probably accurate. But if you get there 5-10 minutes after carpool starts, you might only wait 5 minutes. As for dropping them off a block away.. that might depend on the school. You can not do that at my dd's school. I'm not sure in the morning how or if they could enforce it, but in the afternoon you have to register as a walker (only eligible if you live within a mile) and walk up in person to get them. You also can't just park and walk up and get them. Other schools seem less strict. Personally, my kids are bus riders except when we miss the bus or when my dd has something after school that she has to get to. Unfortunately, this year, that happens 3x a week so she is more of a hybrid bus/carpool person. My son's ride the bus to and from middle school every day (carpool at our middle school is SCARY) and we've had no problems with it at all.
3. Like a pp mentioned, high schools are traditional calendar so at that point they could not be on the same calendar. I, personally, have an 8th, 6th and 2nd grader right now in year round schools. Next year my oldest will be in high school. I have no plans to change the other's schools, so we'll have 2 schedules. While not ideal, we'll make it work. We are on track 1 so we will still have some common time off in June and December. I love year round school. You should be able to have all 3 on traditional, unless you live in an area where the base school is year round and the calendar option school is very popular and you don't get a spot. I don't know the chances of that.
4. Yes, there is sibling priority.
5. I imagine it depends on the school. My dd's school has a lot of parent involvement, a strong PTA and I feel has a strong sense of community. I can't speak for other schools, but I don't think what we have is unusual.
Can you just drop your kid off a few blocks from school and skip the Carpool line?
This is extremely dangerous. The reason schools make it difficult to do this is so that students are not hit by buses, parent/student drivers, and other traffic.
I grew up in the country - yes, Cali has rural areas - and spent an hour on the bus each way to school where there was EXTREME bullying and a lot of sexual activity (middle school). I've read some comments on here how some kids end up spending 90 min on the bus before getting to school - hence my apprehension! I'd rather my kids get an extra hour of sleep than sit on a bus where they can do nothing else but sit and possibly get motion sickness.
As much as year round school appeals to me, because of the gaps in my kids ages, I'd probably choose to do a traditional schedule. Most likely I'd fly back to California for 4-6 weeks during the summer to visit family and friends so having the kids schedules line up is super important. We only have 4 more years until high school (so weird thinking of it that way) so I'd want to be dialed in because time just seems to speed up rather than slow down.
Thank you for the responses!
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- and spent an hour on the bus each way to school where there was EXTREME bullying and a lot of sexual activity (middle school). I've read some comments on here how some kids end up spending 90 min on the bus before getting to school - hence my apprehension! I'd rather my kids get an extra hour of sleep than sit on a bus where they can do nothing else but sit and possibly get motion sickness.
